Trekking through nature’s diversity

“These are remnants of the past,” Hill says. “They are reminders of a fully functioning ecosystem. You get on the landscape and you will learn who you are. It’s intertwining landscape and human history.”

Biology students inventory the life they see on the woodland floor. Chemistry majors research conditions at the pond. Artists capture the view, or use it as inspiration.

“The prairie exposes people to a very different way of experiencing place. The sky. The wind. The sound of the wind in the grasses and trees. The night sky. It can be wonderfully embracing.”

A Living Lab

Students study test plots to see how plants respond to different combinations of fire and mowing. “The prairie is about death and rebirth, loss and restoration,” Andelson says.

Underneath is some of the richest soil on the planet.

“Why is so little prairie left? Because of agriculture. Why do we have so much agriculture? Because the prairie provided such good topsoil,” Andelson notes.

Those questions set up decades of outdoor learning experiences at Grinnell.

“The land has been used for production purposes, but that use has sometimes become abuse at the cost of biodiversity,” Andelson says. “Students are being allowed not only to do research, but also to become doctors to the land to bring it back to health.”

During the summer, students care for the prairie in a 10-week Summer Restoration Assistant (SRA) Program. In 2014, the SRAs were Toni Androski ’16, a biology major, Nick Matesanz ’16, biology; Liza Morse ’15, biology/Spanish; and Carl Sessions ’15, philosophy.